New Car - standered

[Lilac Wine]

I was just wondering how long it took you to become totally comfortable with a standered and if you were already a pro when you got your standered?
Cause I finally got my new car... and it is a standered. Before this I did not know how to drive one. I took 2 hours of lessons and went out for maybe a total of 1.5 hours after that to practice. Well now I own it!
I can drive it, its just in town I find it still a little scary. Some of my starts are good, some not so good, and I still stall somtimes. Am I stupid or am I just being impatient?? I just try to think that everyone was like me at some point and I can only get better. I have only owned the car for a day.
:dunno:

[USED]

First off, it's a STANDARD transmission... secondly, you will get better the more you drive it. Just be patient:burnout:

[Lilac Wine]

oops...
my spelling bad

[mike0989]

took me like a day..i mean all day like 5+ hrs going up and down a back alley starting and stopping. and since then i havent really had much problems few slips here and there.

[camaro]

I didn't have to learn. I just drove... Everyone is different though.

[Weapon_R]

Could take months before you really master the standard transmission. It takes a few hours to get the basics.

[nismodrifter]

on my first day I was granny shifting and not double clutching like I should but within a 1/2 hour I was owning Toretto.

[rmk]

:) not stupid. impatient, that's why you're stalling. don't be in a rush to make your shifts when your still learning. easy does it. take an extra (careful) second when your working with the clutch.

i agree that city driving when you're still learning is a PITA, but it will get easier.

it took me sooo long to figure out the standard when i was 15-16... i had this german or austian guy that sounded like hitler teaching me.... man, i swear i wore out every single clutch in those dinky litle caa learner cars!!!! after every half hour we'd pull of to the side of the road for him to have a cigarette and cool down... man he was pissed off!

take care

[Lilac Wine]

yeah i'm a granny shifter :S
what do you mean by double clutching?

[Weapon_R]

People who double clutch when they drive are morons who act like they know how to drive but only speed up the wear and tear on their clutch..

[BlkMaxima]

He means when he shifts he pushes the clutch to take it out of gear then releases it, then pushes it again to put it in another!

[BlkMaxima]

Originally posted by Weapon_R
People who double clutch when they drive are morons who act like they know how to drive but only speed up the wear and tear on their clutch..

:werd: Double clutching is rediculous, if anything it makes you drive slower anyways, Lol Torreto is a retard thats why he thinks doubl clutching makes you go faster!:rofl:

[DannyO]

don't worry about it, you'll get better, took me just afew hours to learn it, then afew days to get them feeling smooth, as for city driving, after afew more weeks it won't bother you, as for driving in traffic, you will always hate it.

[DannyO]

LOL...double clutching, yea theres no need in todays cars, you only had to do it on very old cars, and I think some Semis even today require it, but we don't have to as our cars have syncros in the transmissions collar, which takes care of it for us, I have heard from some people that if done right, double clutching when you downshift can help lower wear and tear, but I dunno about that.

[A790]

Originally posted by USED
First off, it's a STANDARD transmission... secondly, you will get better the more you drive it. Just be patient:burnout:
woah woah woah, watch out for the grammar nazi.

And don't worry about it, it took me a couple of days.

[T-rus]

I have driven a hydraulic clutch for over a year, now I have a honda and had it for about a month and a half and still working on getting good shifts as I am not used to a cable clutch system.

[bundi]

Some cars are hard some are easy... I bought my car in Calgary and it was my first standard, was a little scary driving home, but I was lucky mine was pretty easy... if it takes you a while to get it yours is probably just a lil harder :)


I'm sure there were kids that learned to walk at an earlier age than Donovan Baily (sp?), doesn't mean he sucks at usin his legs.

[BlueGoblin]

Originally posted by DannyO
LOL...double clutching, yea theres no need in todays cars, you only had to do it on very old cars, and I think some Semis even today require it, but we don't have to as our cars have syncros in the transmissions collar, which takes care of it for us, I have heard from some people that if done right, double clutching when you downshift can help lower wear and tear, but I dunno about that.

I still double declutch usually downshifting, but this is mostly a hold-over from exposure to S.II Land Rover gearboxes and an old Jaguar 'Moss' box from years ago. Its not fast, but it does make for really nice smooth downshifts. If you get the technique perfected (I do not claim perfect mastery of it...), you can even stop using the clutch altogether -until you downshift into first, of course- and keep it nice and smooth.

[DannyO]

Originally posted by BlueGoblin


I still double declutch usually downshifting, but this is mostly a hold-over from exposure to S.II Land Rover gearboxes and an old Jaguar 'Moss' box from years ago. Its not fast, but it does make for really nice smooth downshifts. If you get the technique perfected (I do not claim perfect mastery of it...), you can even stop using the clutch altogether -until you downshift into first, of course- and keep it nice and smooth.

hmm interesting, after I read some peoples opinions on it, I tried it in my car, my downshifts felt much smoother, but if your trying to break kinda fast its not too easy to get right, I'm sure that now it would be much smoother as I have installed new bushings into the engine mounts, as they were ruined and ripped, so now the engine doesn't jump about in the bay, and has made everything smoother, so I'll try out the double clutching downshift when I'm out and about, I might not notice a difference now anyway as after these bushings the downshifting is REALLY smooth anyway.

[FiveFreshFish]

Originally posted by Weapon_R
People who double clutch when they drive are morons who act like they know how to drive but only speed up the wear and tear on their clutch..

Only morons who don't do it properly wear out the clutch when double-clutching. ;)

Double-clutch downshifting when done properly does not wear out the clutch any faster than rev-matched single-clutch downshifting. It saves the synchros but adds wear on the throw-out bearing. Click here (http://www.bmwm5.com/greg/shift_school/) for some good videos on manual transmission driving techniques (scroll down the page). However, there's no substitute for actual seat time.

[Lilac Wine]

those videos would be great! but they aren't working for me :S
Do they work for anyone else?

[Weapon_R]

Originally posted by FiveFreshFish


Only morons who don't do it properly wear out the clutch when double-clutching. ;)

Double-clutch downshifting when done properly does not wear out the clutch any faster than rev-matched single-clutch downshifting. It saves the synchros but adds wear on the throw-out bearing. Click here (http://www.bmwm5.com/greg/shift_school/) for some good videos on manual transmission driving techniques (scroll down the page). However, there's no substitute for actual seat time.

hehehe, it really is no longer needed in today's vehicles, its more tedious, and it only slows you down.

[Lilac Wine]

thanks for the reassuring words. I think I will get used to it. I ventures into town today and cruised around and I am feeling more comfortable and I think I might even be getting better at it!